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Festival outreach an eye-opener for participants

By David Pickle
NCAA.org

Student-athletes at the 2010 Division II National Championships Festival made the most of their opportunity Wednesday for some community outreach. In one case, that outreach required a special touch.

Many of the student-athletes with compatible practice schedules hooked up with students from six Louisville-area schools at the Muhammad Ali Center. One goal was to illustrate how Ali’s six core values (respect, conviction, confidence, dedication, giving and spirituality) match with Division II’s six attributes (balance, learning, passion, service, resourcefulness and sportsmanship).

“In Division II,” Festival organizer Jill Willson told the group, “we believe you can be great athletes, great in the classroom and also give back to the community.”

In the main, though, the morning really was an exercise about enjoying one another.

That was especially important for the group from Louisville’s Seneca High School, an inner-city institution that has ranked frequently among the five lowest-performing schools in Kentucky. But the school is still reeling from a more acute tragedy: the recent deaths of senior Maddie Thomas and recent graduate Adrian Hightower. The pair, boyfriend and girlfriend, were killed in an auto accident on I-71 on Thanksgiving Day.

Hightower was a freshman at the University of Kentucky, which he was attending on a full academic scholarship. Not only was he intellectually strong, he was a leader, having served on the Muhammad Ali Center’s Council of Students.

“Adrian was the kind of kid who, as a teacher, you say, damn, this is why we do this every day,” said Mark Davis, who taught African-American history to both Adrian and Maddie.

The loss of two of its most prominent students continues to rock Seneca High 10 days later, so Wednesday’s time with Division II was especially opportune.

“Events like this, it’s a big deal for these kids,” Davis said. “We have a lot of athletes here, and they’re all trying to figure out how to balance their academics and athletics. So when they can see people who are successful at it, that’s a plus.”

Davis and math teacher Kumar Rashad said events like this pay off in other ways, as well. “They know things like this are hard to put together and that I went the extra mile for this experience,” Davis said. “So when we get back to class, they’re more appreciative.” And perhaps a bit more able to learn.

“It helps with relationships,” Rashad said.

Kristen Brooks and Katie Pufnock, field hockey student-athletes at Shippensburg, enjoyed Wednesday’s experience, as they do most community-outreach activities.

It even gave them an opportunity to discuss their sport with youngsters who are only a little familiar with the game. “They just know the whistle blows a lot,” said Brooks, who was an Elite 88 winner last year (awarded to NCAA student-athletes possessing the highest grade-point average at the final round of competition).

Pufnock, like Brooks a member of her campus student-athlete advisory committee, said that interactions with groups like the high school students are not easy at first but that they become second nature, and satisfying, with a little encouragement from above.

“Sometimes you just need a little nudge,” she said.